A wonderful article on finding out our children’s learning styles:
Written by Shawna Wingert of Not The Former Things.
I have a confession to make.
This may sound a little crazy, but when I was in school, I actually enjoyed completing worksheets. It didn’t matter the subject, whether it was fill-in-the-blank or circle-the-correct -answer, I loved them.
There was something about the promise, as I would write my name in the upper left hand corner (because, of course), that this worksheet would be complete — all the lines filled in, the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed – this worksheet would show how much I “knew.”
Fast-forward about 25 years to when I started homeschooling my own two sons, and not much had changed. I still loved the worksheets. I wanted my sons to love the worksheets.
I wanted them to see the ease and brilliance of just following the directions, and then moving on with your day.
But they didn’t see the brilliance. And the ease? For both of my children, worksheets are suffocating and tedious at best, and a reminder of how difficult some of their special needs are at worst.
I wish I could say I learned my lesson quickly. I wish I could say that I was easily able to walk away from all those check-for-understandings and fill-in-the-blanks, but I didn’t. In fact, to this day, I find myself inexplicably drawn to the section in Barnes and Noble that has all the workbooks by subject and by grade — Every. Single. Time.
The reality that I have come to accept, and have even learned to enjoy sometimes, is that the way I learn, is dramatically different than the way my children learn.
And, the way my oldest son learns (who was reading at 3 ½ without me doing a thing – don’t be jealous or roll your eyes yet …), is dramatically different than the way my youngest son (who is approaching 9, has been diagnosed with profound dyslexia and a processing disorder, and still sometimes forgets how to form the letters in his own name) learns.
So, what does our educational life beyond worksheets look like these days?
Be sure to read the rest of this article on what their educational life beyond worksheets looks like these days here: http://simplehomeschool.net/worksheets
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Updated 1 October 2014: Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here
Needing help for your home schooling journey:
https://hef.org.nz/2011/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/
This link is motivational: http://hef.org.
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/
Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/